Lady for a Day (1933) on Netflix
Apple Annie sells fruit in New York City. Her daughter Louise, who believes her mother is a society matron, is coming to New York with Carlos and his father, Count Romero.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.4/105,291 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Apple Annie sells fruit on the streets of New York City. Her daughter Louise has lived in a Spanish convent since she was a baby and thinks her mother is a society matron, Mrs. E. Worthington Manville, who stays at the Hotel Marberry. Among the people who buy Annie's apples is Dave the Dude, a gambling gangster who counts on them for luck. Word reaches Annie that Louise is crossing to New York with Carlos, her fiancé, and his father, Count Romero, and that the visit will expose the story she has told.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Julia Griffithas Dowager in Mayor's Entourage (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Lady for a Day (1933)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Frank Capra was nominated for Best Director for the first time for Lady for a Day, and it was the first Columbia Pictures release ever nominated for Best Picture.
- Will Rogers presented the Academy Award for Best Director. When he opened the envelope he said, "Come up and get it, Frank!" Capra ran to the podium, sure he had won, but Rogers meant Frank Lloyd, the winner for Cavalcade.
- Capra wanted Robert Montgomery, James Cagney and William Powell, but MGM and Warner Bros. refused to loan them out; Marie Dressler and W.C. Fields were also denied for Apple Annie and Henry G. Blake.
- Capra cast 75-year-old May Robson as Apple Annie just one week before filming began; most of her career had been on stage.
- Capra hired street people from the Downtown Los Angeles neighborhood where he had sold newspapers as a boy as extras; William F. Sauls, missing both legs and moving on a board with wheels, was brought back for the 1961 remake.
- The original negative was lost in the early 1950s during a transfer between film labs, leaving Capra's own 35mm print as the only copy until he made a duplicate negative and donated a print to the Library of Congress.
- Capra told Harry Cohn he was "spending $300,000 on a picture in which the heroine is 70 years old," and Cohn replied, "All I know is the thing's got a wallop. Go ahead."
